The Inevitable
by thenextshondarhimes
Summary: How Mason is reacting to his momma in the hospital and his dad always in the NICU?
1. Chapter 1

**And did you leave them out with the intention of your son getting a hold of them?**

**[A/N: **takes place during "Georgia on my mind" that aired on 12/18/12, but for the purposes of this story Charlotte did not end up going into labor**]**

**Mason.**

I looked down at the bite mark on my arm while the nurse cleaned it up, I think when I told my momma about what happened she started getting pains in her stomach. I don't even want to tell dad what happened, he'll be even more angry, I went to see him yesterday while he was with our first born triplet in the NICU, I tried to talk to him, he told me to be quiet, and that my new little sister needed him more. Does that mean I can't need him right now? Maybe the world only has room for one Freedman child at a time. That's when I got the idea.

**Cooper.**

"I'm home, Mason- you want to play some wii tennis, I think I'll stay here tonight, how about we order a pizza… Mason? Mason? Are you here?" That's odd. Mason always comes running at the word wii, and if that doesn't get his attention the word pizza will. I've barely seen him lately, maybe this is some sort of a backlash against me. But he should be home- Violet dropped him off at 4:30 and it's practically five o'clock.

_ Cooper goes to Mason's room and sees him laying on the bed head down_

"Mase, wake up, are you tired, sick? You don't usually sleep this…" and then I realized, he was unconscious and had a low pulse.

"911, I need an ambulance here as soon as possible bpm is very low, young boy 11 years old, 4"9' 110 pounds, and yes our address on your gps is correct, hurry." I had no idea what happened, lack of food, some sort of carbon monoxide leak, I knew I should have installed those detect…

_Cooper looks on Mason's night stand- he sees an empty glass of water and a bottle of pills, he looked closely at the label "provigil"_

What have I did, why don't I have a lock for my medicine cabinet, that's dangerous enough with Charolette in the house, I thought if anything she would be the one to do this, not Mason, he's just a child. I still had six pills in here.

_The paramedics arrive_

"It looks like he took six of my provigil."

"and who exactly was the prescription issued to Mr. Freedman?" This cop must be new, who does he think he is, calling me "Mr." all the cops know me by now, if not my wife. "It's, Dr. Freedman, and those are mine." He'll say my name right.

"And why do you have them?"  
"stress, from my wife's pregnancy and work, I got tired during the day, these were prescribed to me by another doctor to help me get through the day and back on a normal sleeping routine."

"And did you leave them out with the intention of your son getting a hold of them?" I felt a sickening feeling run through my body and had to sit down, did I leave them out so my son could get them? Did I hope my son would kill himself? What kind of a question is this, what kind of a world do we live in? I put my head to my knees crying. "Well, did you leave them out with the intent that he would find them, have you ever encouraged him to just take medicine without permission?"

"No. NO. NO. NO. I didn't want this to happen, I keep them in a cabinet, I guess he knows where they are, I never taught him to use them I didn't even tell him what they did, but he's a smart boy, a real smart real good boy and all I want right now is for you to save him and I don't need any of this questioning, I don't know what happened here, I just got home, my wife is on bed rest, pregnant with triplets, one of the triplets came out early and is in critical care in the NICU and I don't want this to be happening," I continued crying.

"Can we drive you to the hospital to see your son, is there anyone I can call for you," The cop looked at me with sympathy, more likely so I couldn't come back and sue him than the fact he actually felt bad for me.

"Take me to him. NOW." I demanded.

"Is there a friend we can call, or your wife?" the last thing Charlotte needs right now is this, I'll wait until we know for sure Mason is fine before even telling her. I wasn't sure who to call, Violet busy with Lucas, Sam and Addison were in the NICU with my baby.

"Sheldon." My voice was weak. "Sheldon Wallace, here is his number."

"I'll forward it to the station and have them make the call."

**Sheldon.**

"Dr. Sheldon Wallace speaking, yes, yes, I'll be down there right away." I couldn't believe it, Cooper's son, and suicide. I reviewed all the times I had seen the boy the past few weeks in my mind, now I could slowly see the signs, being less involved, being more quiet than usual, just staring off. I should have asked him if he was o.k, I could have stopped this, I'm a damn psychiatrist, I see the kid every day, and yet I miss it all.

_ Sheldon gets to the hospital and sees Cooper standing by the trashcan looking sick._

I wrap my arms around him and rub his back. "Cooper, you're gonna be alright, how's he doing?"

"They are pumping his stomach now, and he's going to be o.k, but he has to stay in the pysch ward," The tears rolled down his face, every parent's nightmare, knowing that their child would permanently be labeled as 'damaged' from there on out. Wait until Charlotte hears this, it's not going to go over well. I rub his back some more, I feel sick to my stomach too, my eyes tear up.

"You know- I should grab everyone, you deserve support, are you o.k here by yourself?"

"Sure." He shakes and sits down on the floor with his head between his knees. I grab Addison and Sam. We all sit together, Addison holds Cooper, Violet comes as soon as she can and takes a turn holding him.

**Cooper.**

I just sat there leaning on Addison, helplessly, I'm a damn doctor and I can't even help my own son, well mostly because they won't let me. Addison makes me feel so comfortable she's really good at taking care of people, that must be why she is such a good doctor, I really owe her one, maybe next time a guy breaks her heart I'll hold her for a while. I felt Violet's hand go down my back, such a comforting feeling to know that my friends are here with me. Finally a doctor, it must have been seven hours.

"We've pumped your son's stomach, he's in room 304 bed B, and on a 51:50 hold for the moment, luckily there wasn't much to do, that's why it only took us about twenty minutes." The words coming from the doctor's mouth seemed slow and confusing.

"So… he's… um" I swallow. "Alive?"

"Yes, Dr. Freedman, he's alive, he's safe, but we've got a lot to talk about and investigate, he'll need a psychiatrist as well." I look to Violet and she nods. I stand up but my legs feel like jelly, I turn to ask Sheldon for advice, but he looks just as bad as I'm feeling.

"What.. Where.. Where do I start?" I turned to Violet.

"Don't push for questions, make him feel loved first," She rubbed my back encouragingly. It felt like I was walking a mile down that hallway to his room even though it was only a few feet.

"Mase," I sat on his bed and stroked his head. "I love you. So much. And I just want you to know that if I ever lost you, I would be a disaster, my life would be terrible and I know lately I haven't been doing much with you and there really isn't any excuse why I shouldn't, I'm a horrible father." I began to cry, I let him see my tears.

**Mason.**

I lived. For a doctor's son clearly I'm not that smart considering I didn't take enough to kill me, but my dad looks terrible, I can't believe what I've done, and especially with Momma's situation now, oh gosh, Momma, I didn't even think about her, she's going to be really sad. "Dad." I'm crying now too. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for what I did, I'm so selfish, it doesn't always have to be about me, in fact, it never has to be about me, ever again. What's going to happen to me now?"

"Well, you're going to have to stay in here for a little while, you're also going to have to talk to someone, like how about Violet, about how your feeling, and you can tell her things she won't tell me unless you say it's o.k, now I need to go see your momma and I don't want to leave you alone, everyone's outside, do you have a preference of who you want me to get for you?" I liked everyone from the practice, I just shook my head.

_ Cooper leaves the room._

**Cooper.**

"Can someone go sit with him and keep him company, Sheldon, Violet, or anyone? I need to go see Charolette and I don't want him to be alone?" I look around, Sheldon still looks really upset, which is weird because I don't see Sheldon as the guy to get emotionally involved and all, He's never really spent much time with Mason. Violet points down at Sheldon and mouths she'll take care of him.

"I can," Addiosn is a life saver.

"thank you so much Addiosn."

"I'm always here."

_ Cooper walks down to Charolette's room._

**Charolette.**

Can't believe, it's been like an hour and none of those damn a-holes have come to check up on me, it's kind of nice, I actually enjoy the quiet. Oh look, it's my husband, why does he look so upset? Not my baby… "Coop what's going on, just seein' your face is scaring the life out of me."

"Babe," He took my hand, this can't be good.

"Mason tried to kill himself this afternoon," I started crying, I knew I never wanted to have these damn babies in the first place, I could have been there, wait maybe it's me, it's my fault.


	2. Chapter 2

**Charlotte.**

I couldn't believe the look of devastation on his face, it felt like this was a dream. I rubbed my eyes to check. How could this happen, sweet Mason, the boy is ten years old for gods sake- shouldn't even know about things like this yet. "I want. I want to talk to him- soon."

"He still needs his rest, but as soon as I can, I will wheel him in here,"

"And I will knock some sense into that boy and remind him why he's here and that I love him. Go be with our son, I don't want him to be alone." I cried some more, being so helpless lying in this bed, it felt like crying was all I could do.

**Addison.**

Suicide has to be one of the saddest things ever, the fact that someone feels like they have not even enough value to keep themselves alive brings me to tears every time I think about it, and even sadder to think of a ten year old doing it, he's ten, ten is still the age for faeries and magic and toy planes and trains, climbing trees, race cars and sports, not feeling sad and lonely enough to go over the edge. I looked into his blue eyes and saw his remorse, his devastation, his loss of want to be in life. I sat on his bed. "Mason." I put my arms around him. "You're going to be o.k, you know that right?" He just sniffled. "Do you know how many people love you?" he shook his head no, "Well lets see, your momma, your dad, me, violet, Sheldon, Lucas, Jake and Amelia. And you know you were one of the first people to make Henry laugh, Henry loves you too. You have all these aunts and uncles and cousins that love you, that's seven people, and don't forget your Momma's family, so do you realize if you would have died there would be at least ten people that were very sad, maybe even sadder than you felt when you wanted to do this, so do you really want people to feel even sadder than you did? Because we all love you."

"Really? You all love me?" he wiped back tears.

"Even Sheldon was out there crying," which in my opinion is a little bit strange, but o.k I guess he feels close to us. "So everyone loves you, I'm not telling you this to make you sad, I don't want you to be sad, I just want you to know how much you are cared for."

"Thank you Addison," Mason looked at me, his soft wet eyes still melt my heart.

"Don't thank me, I will always be here for you, if you ever need to talk to me, or anyone at the practice for that matter we're always here for you."

_(flashback- Sheldon 22 years younger.)_

**Sheldon.**

"Daddy- push me more on the swings," How could I say no to that innocent little face just like mine, those curly brown locks of hair like her mothers. I pushed her higher and higher into the trees until the sunset. I gave her a piggyback ride home, we had hotdogs for dinner and I gave her a bath. We settled into her bed watching a princess movie and when she fell asleep I kissed her goodnight and put her night light on.

"See, you are a great father, that nervous breakdown you had five years ago when I told you I was pregnant was all for nothing," My wife said to me when she came into bed that night.

"You know Laura, you're right, I do really love that girl, so much. I will always protect her, nothing will ever bring her down,"

**Amelia.**

I had a hard childhood, my father died when I was little. I couldn't understand it then so I turned to drugs as I got older- seems like it happened earlier for Mason. "Hey Addie," I turn to Mason and put my hand on his shoulder, "How are you feeling bud?"

"Tired."

"That means you're getting better. It really does. Did you know when I was little my Daddy died?"

"How did he die?"

"He got shot. Just because some guys wanted his watch."

"Was it hard for you?"

"Yeah. Especially because I watched him die while the paramedics came, losing a parent is one of the hardest things you have to do, lucky for us- it's already half over." Maybe that joke was bad. "But you know, I thought I was fine, turns out I wasn't, I started taking pills, kind of like the ones you took."

"So you wanted to kill yourself too?"

"No. I really don't know what I wanted, I only took a few pills and then they made me do crazy and mean things."

"And it was really hard for me to watch, because Amelia was like my sister and I tried to help her but I just couldn't do it," Addison added.

"But with the help of my friends and family I got better, but then I got worse again, but then I got better. So anyways, I'm always going to be here to help you so it won't happen again, I love you kid." I was in tears at this point.

"I love you too Amelia. Was your family mad?"

"My brother Derek, Addie's ex-husband, was really upset, and so was my mother. They were scared more than anything though."  
"Do you think you could talk to my momma, so she won't be too sad."

"Of course I will."

_(flashback)_

**Sheldon.**

"Kaylee dear, do you want some lunch?"

"No thanks Dad."

"But sweetie, you haven't eaten all day, I worry about you, you may be 15 but you're still a growing girl, you need your nutrition." Something was odd, I couldn't quite place my finger on it.

**Cooper.**

Charlotte is taking it a little better than I had imagined- maybe because she knows any early stress could cause the babies to come.

_Cooper looks over at Sheldon as he passes him in the hallway._

What's his problem lately?

"Mase, they are bringing you dinner soon, is chicken fingers o.k?"

"Yeah, chicken fingers sound great Dad." He sat up and smiled as best as he could. Really where do I go from here? How do things pick up and move on?

**Sheldon.**

"suh suh suh suh, suicide? But but but I can't understand why how who?" I felt destroyed. The doctor kindly patted my shoulder.

"Suicide," He repeated "She took a knife to her heart, your wife found her in bed this evening." That was painful to hear. I remember getting sick and then returning.

"I'm a psychologist, my daughter killed herself." The doctor just looked at me. "How in the hell does this add up? Exactly. It doesn't. I can't help anyone, I'm useless." I slumped over crying, the doctor sat down but I told him to go save lives, go be a hero, be good at his job while he still can.

"You didn't notice?" Laura yelled at me that night.

"It adds up now, withdrawn, not eating, interested in death," I stutter.

"You suck at your job." She left in a storm. Filed for divorce a few months later.

**Violet. **

I sat there holding Sheldon as he cried. "Shel, what's wrong," I looked to him as you would look to a child.

"I have a daughter. In heaven and her name was Kaylee," Tears streamed down his face, I tried not to look shocked despite the fact Sheldon had hardly ever told him anything about himself except that he had an ex-wife, and he only told us that by accident. I patted his back and he continued. "She was the most beautiful princess ever."

"Wh-what happened to Kaylee?" I asked trying not to cry.

"Suicide, a few more years older than Mason is. She was depressed all the time, we really never knew why." You could tell he was trying to act like his daughter was just another patient, that normal, awkward, short monotone returned to his voice for that sentence and then he went back to crying. "I was a pyschologiest and I couldn't help my own child, I couldn't help someone else's child. I sat there and saved the life of a pedophile and many other people undeserving to experience the world, but I can't save anyone who is valuable." He stopped sobbing. "Maybe I oughtta quit, just take up working in an office, making copies, stapling papers, I can't mess that up right?" he chuckled. I was still in shock that Sheldon had so much on him and he always heard about everyone else and their problems but never once mentioned himself.

**Sheldon.**

I can't believe I just said all that. Now everyone is going to give me that hurt puppy look just like they did in New York. That's why I moved away from there. I wanted to go somewhere where people wouldn't feel sorry for me, they wouldn't think they needed to hug me when they see me and bring me coffee because they worry. I bet I'll have to move again with the rate that gossip travels through this practice. "Violet?" I'm back to normal again, done crying. I kind of feel like a weight has been lifted. This is nice. "Are you going to tell everyone?"


End file.
